专家们称：美国民众对生物恐怖行为过度反应
WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters Health) - A bioterrorism expert told a House Committee Wednesday that bad information has led to an unreasonable level of panic about the probability of a bioweapons attack.
"Despite what you may have heard in recent weeks, there are meaningful technical hurdles that stand between this nation's citizens and the ability of terrorist groups to engage in mass casualty attacks with chemical and biological agents," Dr. Amy Smithson, director of the chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation project at the Henry Stimson Center, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight subcommittee.
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"Facts often get overlooked in such an atmosphere, but I will resort to them nonetheless," Smithson told the subcommittee. For example, she said, while crop-dusting planes normally dispense materials that are 100 microns in size or larger, "in order for an aerosol spray of biological agent to infect a person, the agent must arrive in the human lung alive, in a 1 to 10 micron particle size."
Smithson said the Florida anthrax situation is also not likely a terrorist event. In any case, she said, "rubbing some anthrax on a (computer) keyboard is not a mass casualty attempt."
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But, Smithson added, more does need to be done to prepare the country for a potential attack. "The key to biodisaster preparedness lies not in bigger budgets and more federal bureaucracy, but in smarter spending that enhances readiness at the local level." While more than $8 billion is now being spent on readiness, she said, "only $311 million is making it outside the beltway."
Dr. Joseph Waeckerle, editor in chief of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, echoed her plea for more local help. Financial constraints on hospitals have left them undersupplied with workers, medications and equipment, Waeckerle told the subcommittee, a dangerous situation in the event of a mass casualty situation.
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"Congress must recognize that hospitals and their emergency departments are critical components of the infrastructure of America's biodefense system," he said, "and must take steps necessary to fortify their ability to respond."
The Johns Hopkins Hospitals alone will spend $7 million this year to beef up its preparedness, testified Johns Hopkins Health System President Ron Peterson on behalf of the American Hospital Association, including $300,000 for gas masks for its staff.
"Our hospitals have always been ready for the foreseeable," Peterson said. "Now we must plan for the previously inconceivable.", 百拇医药
"Despite what you may have heard in recent weeks, there are meaningful technical hurdles that stand between this nation's citizens and the ability of terrorist groups to engage in mass casualty attacks with chemical and biological agents," Dr. Amy Smithson, director of the chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation project at the Henry Stimson Center, told the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight subcommittee.
, 百拇医药
"Facts often get overlooked in such an atmosphere, but I will resort to them nonetheless," Smithson told the subcommittee. For example, she said, while crop-dusting planes normally dispense materials that are 100 microns in size or larger, "in order for an aerosol spray of biological agent to infect a person, the agent must arrive in the human lung alive, in a 1 to 10 micron particle size."
Smithson said the Florida anthrax situation is also not likely a terrorist event. In any case, she said, "rubbing some anthrax on a (computer) keyboard is not a mass casualty attempt."
, 百拇医药
But, Smithson added, more does need to be done to prepare the country for a potential attack. "The key to biodisaster preparedness lies not in bigger budgets and more federal bureaucracy, but in smarter spending that enhances readiness at the local level." While more than $8 billion is now being spent on readiness, she said, "only $311 million is making it outside the beltway."
Dr. Joseph Waeckerle, editor in chief of the Annals of Emergency Medicine, echoed her plea for more local help. Financial constraints on hospitals have left them undersupplied with workers, medications and equipment, Waeckerle told the subcommittee, a dangerous situation in the event of a mass casualty situation.
, http://www.100md.com
"Congress must recognize that hospitals and their emergency departments are critical components of the infrastructure of America's biodefense system," he said, "and must take steps necessary to fortify their ability to respond."
The Johns Hopkins Hospitals alone will spend $7 million this year to beef up its preparedness, testified Johns Hopkins Health System President Ron Peterson on behalf of the American Hospital Association, including $300,000 for gas masks for its staff.
"Our hospitals have always been ready for the foreseeable," Peterson said. "Now we must plan for the previously inconceivable.", 百拇医药